Baltic-focused casino and online gambling operator Olympic Entertainment Group (OEG) is looking to boost its online presence in new markets via the establishment of a new Malta subsidiary.
On Wednesday, OEG announced that it had registered a wholly owned Malta-based subsidiary, Olybet Malta Ltd. The company says the intention is to “develop the legal platform for the expansion of OEG Group’s activities in the business of remote gambling.” OEG’s online operations run under the OlyBet brand.
OEG stressed that its new offshoot has “no direct influence on the economic activities of OEG Group” and that none of OEG’s management or supervisory boards have any personal interest in the establishment of its Malta subsidiary.
OEG CEO Madis Jääger later told the Baltic News Service that the “main goal of setting up the OEG subsidiary is preparing for entry into new markets.” Jaager declined further comment, claiming it was inappropriate for a listed company to provide further detail while the online plans were still in their “developmental phase.”
OEG already has two Maltese subsidiaries, but their focus has been on managing Casino Malta, the country’s biggest land-based casino. OEG”s Maltese operations were the Group’s fastest growing segment in 2016, with revenue rising 3,752% to €11m from just €300k in 2015.
According to unaudited figures released on Thursday, OEG’s other market segments were all in the black in 2016 except for Poland and Belarus. OEG exited Belarus in September while the Polish business filed for bankruptcy last week after failing to win a license renewal for its flagship casino property in Warsaw, resulting in FY16 revenue for the Polish division falling 43.8% year-on-year to €13.3m.
As for OEG’s other markets, Latvia led the way in FY16 with net revenue of €60.6m (+17.7%), followed by Estonia (€39.2m, +16.5%), Lithuania (€24m, +15.7%), Slovakia (€14.7m, +1.4%) and Italy (€11.6m, +16.5%). OEG will release its audited accounts on February 28 and its annual report on March 28.
